Unfriendly council to auction off housing

A London council's plan to auction off 15 houses on the cheap appears to be temporarily halted as local people stage an occupation of the properties to try and stop the sale.

Lewisham Council wants to sell 15 three- and four-bed houses on Friendly Street at a knock down price of £130,000 each. Local people claim that this is too cheap and with improvements the houses could demand a price more in the region of £400,000 each. However, Lewisham Council say the homes are run down and too expensive to refurbish. According to one of the protesters, the council say that it would cost around £40,000 per house to improve.

Public sector cut-backs have meant that local authorities need to make savings wherever possible but surely if a council is going to/has to sell off housing stock, then their remit must be to get the best possible return for the taxpayer. This appears to be a no-brainer for Lewisham Council - If the figures quoted in the Evening Standard article are to be believed, then surely spending £600,000 on improvements to re-coup £5.4 million is a much better idea than re-coup just £1.95 million from selling the houses at £130,000 each, with no improvements.

The local people hope that the occupation will ruin the sale. The question is - how long are they prepared to maintain the sit-in?  

Whatever happens, the locals will argue that at the end of the day, it would be better still to keep hold of the houses and return them back into housing stock for the local people.

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